Human Rights in Islam

as to what kind of human beings we like to love and get along with.

Story Two: The Handicapped Soldier

One time it was said that a man, a young man was in the army. So after a few years, his family never heard from him. He calls home, and he says, dad, I am on my way home.

And the father is very excited, the mother is very excited, and they are all waiting for that day. You know, we are so happy that you are coming back. And then he asks them, dad, can I bring a friend with me? He was, you know, in the battlefield, I would like to bring him with me.

They said, of course, no problem. And then he said, but there is only one problem with him. We were walking one day, and a mine, a land mine exploded, and he lost a leg, and he lost an arm, and he lost one of his eyes.

So they said, no problem, just have him come in. And he said, you know, mom, actually I am not bringing him in. I like him to live with us.

So the father said, you know, or the mother said, son, we are talking about someone that is severely handicapped here. We cannot, it will be a lot of responsibility, just great inconvenience, you know, to have someone like this in our house. And as they are talking, they find out that someone has hung up the phone, or he is no longer on the other line.

And they are screaming, hello, hello. No one gets anything. A few days after, they receive a phone call from the police.

And they say, we have a body here, and we believe it is your son's body. And we would like you to come and identify the body. You know, all saddened, they go there to identify the body.

And they said, you know, we do not think that he died out of natural causes. We believe that it was a suicide. So they go in to identify the body, and here is what they find.

Their son lost a leg, he lost an arm, and he also lost one of his eyes. What happens is that we feel that our love or acceptance of other human beings is very conditional. So long that they do not cause any inconvenience in our lives, we are going to take them.

The more good looking they are, the better social status that they have, you know, the less inconvenience they cause us, that is where we are getting them. In reality, a person does not lose his integrity or his dignity because of his circumstances.

The $100 Bill Example

One time, this speaker was invited to give a motivational speech.

So what he did is that he took $100 from his pocket. And he said, who would like to have this $100? So they all, you know, all the people that were attending, they all raised their hands. We want $100.

So he said, okay, one condition. He takes the $100, and he really crumbles it very bad. And he says, now, who wants this $100? And all the people that raised their hands earlier, they all raised their hands again.

He goes, one more thing. He throws it down on the ground, and he really, really steps on it, and he picks it up again, and he says, now, who still wants this $100? They all raised their hand again, they all want the $100. He takes the $100, and he spits on it.

And he says, now, who wants the $100? Again, they all raised their hands for the $100. And then he says, ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

You just learned a great lesson on value.

You all knew that. The crumbled $100 was still worth $100. When I threw it on the ground and I stepped on it, it was still worth $100.

When I spit on it, it was still worth $100. Human beings are like that. No matter what circumstances are.

No matter what difficult times they're going through. No matter how much they have failed. No matter how crumbled they may be.

No matter how many people have stepped on them. They do not lose their value. No one loses their value, my brothers and sisters.

No matter how poor you are, beginning with you, you should never allow anyone to degrade you because of your circumstances. Equally as important, you do not degrade and rip people of their human dignity and integrity because of the situations that they are in. No matter what they are guilty of.

The Alcoholic Man and the Prophet

And that is why the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), when he was presented with the man that was drinking alcohol all the time and people started cursing him, he said, Do not curse him. He loves Allah and His Messenger. Now this is an alcoholic and the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) is saying, Look, this alcoholic person loves Allah and His Messenger (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) Meaning that, I may be guilty of it.

But guess what? It does not reduce my human dignity and integrity. No matter what happens. And every time you deal with any other person, make sure my brothers and sisters that we recognize the difference between these two things.

Between the person and between the performance. We can criticize the performance. Definitely it was an evil deed.

It's a terrible deed. It was a bad deed. But the person himself does not lose his human dignity and integrity even if he is a kafir.

That's what was said earlier. The children of Adam were all honored by Allah SWT. And when we say this, Wallahi, it is not for the sake of political correctness or for the sake of sounding good or for the fact that we have non-Muslim in the audience.

That is irrelevant. We are relaying the teachings of Muhammad (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). We are talking about what Islam is saying. And what Islam emphasizes is not the human rights, although it was greatly addressed.

It was the fact that, remember that they are humans no matter what. No matter what, they are humans. And that is why again, the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), and you hear this all the time here.

And that is a person, you know, you have your child walking around, breaks something and you start cursing them. Or you start yelling them or giving them names. And the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said Look, He said, your household items have an appointed term the same way that you have an appointed term, so do not curse your children.

And you hear again people stripping other people from their human dignity and integrity no matter what happens. And Islam absolutely refuses this position, my brothers and sisters. And that is why again, Islam says that it is not enough, that you cannot be passive.

I quoted Desmond Tutu when he said, In a situation of injustice, if you decide to be neutral, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

And that is not an acceptable Islamic position. Do something about it.

The King and the Rock

It was said that a king one time, he wanted to test his fellow citizens. So what he did is that he placed this big rock on the way, on the path of people. And he hid behind another rock to see how the people were going to react.

It was very clear that that piece of a rock was an inconvenience to whoever passes by that road. So he saw some of his ministers, they came, they saw the rock, they walked around it, and they kept going. Nothing.

So then other people came, they looked around, they saw the rock, they walked around it, and kept going. A peasant comes, and he was carrying his belongings, and when he saw the rock, he put his belongings down, and he starts pushing the rock outside of the path of people.

And it was a big rock, and he struggled with it, he struggled with it, and he struggled, and finally he was able to push it.

And the minute he pushed it away, there was a purse there with a lot of gold in it, and there was a letter from the king. And this is a gift to he who removes this from the path of people. Now this is what the king said, or did.

But 1400 years ago, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us this, that a man was walking on the road, and when he saw a big branch of a tree, that was an inconvenience to people. So he said to himself,

let me remove this from the path of the Muslims, and he threw it out of the way. Allah forgave his sins, and Allah admitted him to paradise.

It may be as little as this, but the idea that Islam always emphasizes, that as a Muslim you have a contribution to make to humanity. And the biggest contribution that you can make is respecting their human dignity and integrity all the time, and positively, positively contributing to the elimination of injustice, and the bringing of justice. We cannot be passive, my brothers and sisters.

We can talk about the rights, we can say, yes, you have the right to own, you have the right to do this, but what happens if there is no one to speak on behalf of these oppressed people? We're giving the example yesterday about the divorcees, about the widows, about the AIDS patients. What about the handicapped people? Handicapped people. Have you seen the way they are treated in our societies, in our communities? And I say this to our, in our Muslim communities and societies.

How they are devalued, how they are not paid attention to. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. I am Yasir Faizagah, and I would like to wish all of you and your families a very happy Eid, and Eid Mubarak to all.

Allah I pray for our world What kind of importance does Islam give to the concept of justice? The protection of human rights That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not consider us by the color of our skin or our social status or any of that. Rather Allah judges us according to our deeds and according to our actions. That is justice.

That no one is worthy of worship but Allah. And the angels bear witness. And those who possess knowledge, they bear witness that Allah stands firmly for justice.

Examples of Disability Discrimination

What about the handicapped people? Handicapped people. Have you seen the way they are treated in our societies, in our communities? And I say this to our, in our Muslim communities and societies. How they are devalued? How they are not paid attention to? Subhanallah, listen to this.

I was told that one time in a certain locality, a family had a son. The son was mentally retarded. But they were so ashamed of their son as if it was his fault.

He was born that way. So what they would do is that they would never allow him. They had never allowed him to leave the house.

Because they did not want the people to see their son. They were ashamed of him. And again you ask, what fault of his is it that he is where he is? But that is what we do.

One time it was brought to the US, twins that were connected from their head. They were connected. Two year old, two girls, beautiful girls.

And they said that they were from the area, meaning in the subcontinent here. And they said that when people found out about what kind of children my wife delivered, they all said, this is a curse from Allah

and they must have done something very weird and that is why Allah is punishing them the way He is punishing them. And they would not help them.

A Canadian doctor finds out about these two twins and he decides that he is going to do the surgery for free from A to Z. And what does he say in the process? These are human beings. They deserve to have a good quality of life. And in our case we say, oh this is a curse from Allah.

This is a punishment from Allah. And in the process what happens? Again we take the human dignity and integrity from these people. Not accepted by brothers and sisters.

Again we keep talking about their rights but what is most important is that recognizing that they are humans. All the time. And the very first step that you take in order to justify wrongdoing against other humans is that you devalue them and you dehumanize them.

That's what the Europeans did about Africa. They are heathens. They are the pagans.

They don't know. That's what we did when we called them kafirs. They deserve it anyways.

Don't worry about them. Collateral damages. And what we are doing is that we are debasing what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,

"(Quran 17:70)"

hope that such a beautiful exhibition, when we walk out from it, it's not necessarily how much we have learned.

It is what are we going to do with what we have learned. See, the intent of this is not to make a walking library out of every single one of us.

That is not it.

You could have read a book yourself. But the intent is really what can we teach, what can we take, that when we leave from here, we are going to have a positive impact on our society. Remember they say, charity begins at home.

Do you always recognize the people of your family, the people within your family, as human beings, no matter what? And if you do recognize them, how do you display this in action?

The Right to Privacy

You know one of the things that the Prophet (صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) was spoken about, respecting the privacy of people.

That is part of their rights. Allah says,

Do not spy on one another.

People have the right of privacy. Now speaking of privacy, I have another joke for you, but this time you really have to laugh inshaAllah. Said that one time, they were holding elections in one of the Muslim countries.

So the question was, do you want him or do you want him? No, I'm just kidding. The question said, do you say yes or do you say no? Meaning that there was only one candidate. And that was the question, do you want this candidate to be the president again, or do you not want this candidate to be the president again? Speaking of privacy.

So this very enthusiastic fellow, he goes to the election booth and he puts a big cross and it's a no. Doesn't want him. And he comes back home and he's very proud of himself and what he has done.

And his wife asks, so how was the elections? And he said, it was great. Today I spoke my heart and I told them what I felt like. She said, what do you mean? He said, I said no.

She said, you crazy fool. Do you know what you have done? Do you know that the secret services can come back tomorrow? Do you know that they can fire you from your job? Do you know that if you lose your job, our children are going to have no place, we're going to have no food?

And the man is just extremely scared. Now he recognizes what big of a fool he is.

So he goes back to the election booth and there was a guard out there. And he tells the guard, excuse me sir, I really made a big, big, huge mistake and I beg your forgiveness. But I really have to get my election card back and fix the mistake that I got.

The guard looks at him and he goes, well this time we fixed your mistake for you. But make sure that you don't do it next time. But it is the whole concept of privacy.

You know that Islam really respects, says that it is part of people's rights. Now sometimes people are drinking apple juice. Apple juice in the US looks like the color of wine.

Now people are saying, is this really wine? Is this really apple juice? Is this really this? Or what is it? So we get to be very curious for the sake of finding false on other people. And Islam says no. They are humans, respect their privacy.

Meaning that even if you suspect it, do not try to verify it in such a way that you can say, aha, I got my brother or my sister on something here.

And the examples can go on and on and on. But Islam goes beyond the obvious.

What you need to remember is this, that no matter what, no matter what, these people are always, they are always holders of human dignity and integrity. Now basically this is what I had in mind. But very quickly, what I have seen here in Chennai is absolutely beautiful.

Call for Unity

If there is one thing that I like to stress and emphasize as a word of sharing here, something with my

brothers and sisters, is that we have some sort of similarities between you and us, meaning that we are a Muslim minority in a non-Muslim majority in the West. And we have the same thing, you are a minority here. And there are many misconceptions that are going around about our religion, where you and I are guilty by association.

Every time people see us or they hear the word Islam, the worst of images come to their mind. And we have a responsibility towards the non- Muslims, definitely by giving a better image of Islam. But I also feel that in order to do so and achieve that, we must be united, my brothers and sisters.

We cannot be scattered. We may differ with one another. But let not our differences together hinder our progress.

Do not let it affect our welfare. You see what's happening nowadays around the world? They're having... The countries of South America are coming together. The countries of Europe are coming together.

The countries of Asia are coming together. And when you look into us Muslims, both on the global level and also on the local level, you see that we have this tendency. We almost insist upon it that we are going to just differ.

They say if you have five Muslims and you ask them one question, you get seven answers back. That's how it is and it is very sad. And if you look into the teachings of Islam, it is always a call to unity.

Pray by yourself. There is more reward when you pray with the rest of the believers. Make umrah, more reward when you make hajj with the rest of the believers.

Fast any day, make sure you get more reward when you fast Ramadan with the rest of the believers. A constant, constant invitation to unity, yet we are very, very scattered. And the minute that happens, then what happens? We lose.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,

Do not go into quarrel about one another. For this will only lead to failure. But you will no longer be prosperous.

So my brothers and sisters, please be united. No matter how much we disagree with one another. But by the end of the day, remember that I am not only a human being, but I also belong to the family of Muslims.

And as a member of that family, I have obligations as well as I have rights. The same way that you have your obligations and you have your rights. Secondly, let us pick our battles.

Pick Your Battles

What is it that we want? We may differ, but what are our battles? Do we just raise war about every single point? In other words, let us remember the fiqh of priorities. Determining what is most important at this

point. Imagine this.

They said that once someone had a traffic accident, and they were bleeding. They were bleeding to death. They had broken bones.

And imagine now they are brought into the emergency room, and the doctor sees that person and he goes, Oh, his thumb is broken. We need to fix the thumb. The person is bleeding to death.

And the dumb doctor is saying, the thumb is broken. We need to fix the thumb. No problem.

Yes, we do acknowledge that the thumb is broken. But there is more serious problem going on. The person is bleeding.

So pay attention to that which is most important. If your engine in your car, if the engine in your car is about to go bad, you are not worried about the paint on your car. You want to fix a bigger problem.

Similarly, this is what happens when we are in a community. What do we want to do? We have the beautiful example in Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. In the hadith, Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, she relates. She said that,

Amongst the very first things that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said to the people is, O you people, say, (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh).

And then she continued and she comments and she said, Had Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said to people, give up alcohol, they will all say, we will never give up alcohol. And had Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم told people not to fornicate, they would all say that, we will never give up fornication. What happens is that, most important things should come first.

You see, you say that, well, there are many problems. Well, make sure that you pick your battles. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم once addressing Aisha, and he said, you know, the way the Ka'bah looks nowadays, the house of Allah in Mecca, he said, this was not really how it was built during the time of Ibrahim صلى الله عليه وسلم . During the time of Ibrahim صلى الله عليه وسلم it had two doors, where you walk in from one and you walk out from the other.

But then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, and had it been my wish, I would have built it the same way that it was built by Ibrahim صلى الله عليه وسلم. But your people are still new to Islam, and this would not be a point that I should be raising with them. See, they're saying that they're Muslims, but the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم recognized that, you know what, at this point, that is not the best thing to do. Not only that, today was Friday, some of us read Surah Al-Kahf, you know, it's Sunnah to read it on Fridays.

And Surah Al-Kahf, what happens, Al-Khadr صلى الله عليه وسلم, what does he do? He makes a hole in the ship. And Musa صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying, what are you doing? You are ruining, you're ruining that

ship that belongs to these poor people. And Al-Khadr صلى الله عليه وسلم says, remember I told you, you are not going to be patient with me.

And then the story goes on, goes on. And then he explains, he tells him that there was a tyrant up there. And had he seen this ship in a good condition, he would have confiscated it.

So what I did is that, I said to myself, a defected ship that still belongs to the poor people is better than no ship at all. Isn't that the case? I know it's defected now, but this tyrant is going to see it, but it will be of no interest to him. So what do I do? I said, let us do this, and let us keep our ship.

So my brothers and sisters again, let us look around us, and what is happening, and let us pick our battles wisely. And finally, part of having that human dignity and integrity within us, part of the belief that we all belong to the same family, is that we have got to purify our hearts and care for one another. Peace be upon you.

New Muslims Testimonials

I am Mokhtar Marawi. I wish all of you a Mubarak. My name is Shah Tereq.

My name is Naseem Abdul Rahman. My name is Raj Wahaj. My name is Musa Benak.

I was a Christian. Hindu. I had a Christian upbringing.

When I asked ten people about Hinduism, I used to get ten different answers. My heart was attracted to Islam. I used to ask a lot of questions to the priests, and I wasn't getting the answers.

Why did I become a Muslim? Allah knows best. Alhamdulillah, I've made the right choice. My choice, from ignorance to Islam.

Dr. Zakir's Message About Parents

A friendly message by Dr. Zakir. Old Age Home. Al-Quran, Surah Al-Isra, chapter number 17, verses number 23 and 24 says,

Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents.

Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not a word of contempt. Do not say uf to them, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility and say, My Lord, bestow on them your mercy, even as they cherished me in childhood.

There is no place for old age home in Islam.

The Story of the Paradise Dweller

The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, once was sitting, and a man entered the gathering, or he passed by. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, made the comment, and he said, A man is going to enter from that door, and he is going to be one of the dwellers of paradise.

So a very ordinary man comes in, you know, just normal, not very famous. Nothing happens. The next day, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, makes the same statement, and the same man walks in.

The third day, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, makes the same statement, and the same man walks in. Now, Abdullah ibn Umar is sitting there, and he said, This man has got to be incredible. Three days in a row, the same statement, and Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, is saying this about him.

I've got to know what does he do. I want to be in that same position. So he goes to him, and he says, You know, I have had a quarrel with my wife.

It would be best if I can spend a few days with you. In the Arab tradition, if a person ever asks you, you know, to stay over or spend some time with you, you don't inquire as to why or who or investigate or interrogate. So he takes him in.

And Abdullah ibn Umar is up all night long, waiting for the man to get up and do his night prayers. But then the whole night passes by, and the man only gets up for Fajr. So Abdullah ibn Umar says to himself, You know what, he probably overslept.

The next day, he's up all night long, waiting for the man to come and do his night prayers, and the man does not get up. So Abdullah ibn Umar, you know what, he maybe overslept two times, two days in a row. The third day, Abdullah ibn Umar is up all night long, and the man does not get up for the night prayers, but he gets up for Fajr.

So Abdullah ibn Umar goes to him and says, You know what, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made that comment about you, three days in a row, and I came here not having any problems with my wife, but I really wanted to know what is it that you do. I did not see you get up at night. He said, You know what, I really do not pray a lot at night.

I do my five daily prayers, but before I go to bed, I make sure that I clean my heart from any malice or any ill feelings to any of my Muslim brothers and sisters. And because of such an action, we may really think very little of it, but because of such an action, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is telling us that this person is going to be amongst the dwellers of paradise.

Final Message

Finally, my brothers and sisters, please think big of yourself.

The whole issue of self-image psychology. You are an honored being by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do not degrade yourself and do not let others degrade yourself.